Quins 2nd XV vs Saracens 2nd XV at the Stoop

By The Prof
September 3 2002

A balmy evening greeted the players and supporters alike at the Stoop Memorial Ground on Monday evening. Saracens kicked off and won the ball back, carrying the ball forward but a big double tackle by Monye and Horstmann caused the ball to be spilled forward.

Quins spread the ball wide allowing a break by Slemen which almost made it through to score if only it hadn’t been for an attack of “Bambi legs” which resulted in him sprawling forward and knocking the ball on giving a scrum to the visitors. The scrum resulted in a free kick which was booted upfield only to be caught by Ugo Monye (now sporting a bleached blond goatee to go with his “pollen top” bleached hair) who charged back and chipped the ball forward. Sarries caught the ball and kicked to clear, Wilcocks caught the kick and the ball ended up going out on the Saracens’ 22, and at the resulting line out they cleared the ball with another thumping kick.

Satala then had his first run which lead to a penalty for Quins which Slems kicked to touch. Quins won the line out and set up one of Scotty’s two favourite things – a rolling maul. The ball was passed out to Bill Satala who took the ball very well with a fingertip, one handed catch, the ball was recycled to Slems who slotted a drop goal putting Quins ahead 3-0 after 5 minutes.

The referee was changed around the 7 minute mark meaning one of touch judged would need to be replaced by a stand in who happened to be wearing a Saracens shirt even though a number of Quins’ supporters offered to do the job (and could have done a much better job of it, although it was pointed out that it is difficult to run the line and drink a pint at the same time). Sarries restarted, the ball was recycled and Slemen cleared it. At the lineout Craig Quinnell was surprisingly lifted! Play broke down and a scrum was awarded. The Quins front row of Starr, Caputo and Cardinali showed their experience and power over their opposition by pushing them back leading to a complete disintegration of the visiting scrum with back rows and second rows popping up all over the place leading to a rare Quins penalty. Instead of a kick Quins went for the score but it went a bit awry and ended up in a kick that the spectators could only assume was meant to be a drop goal!

The resulting clearance kick went to the diminutive Quins full back, Max Wilcocks, who ran it back bouncing the opposition No.8 off in a tackle for good measure! Sarries were awarded a lineout which they won and drove back at us leading to a penalty 10 metres from the Quins’ line. Saracens attacked well up the right hand side but a good tackle by Jewell thwarted their attempt to score. However they retained possession and spread the ball wide left allowing them to score a try (with a subsequent conversion) against the run of play. (3-7)

After the restart Sarries made another break up the right, chipping the ball through, giving Jewell a tricky bounce to contend with, he managed it shipped the ball to Slems who cleared it.

Saracens kept Quins out and repeatedly made huge clearance kicks one of which was returned with a run and grubber to the corner by Greenstock. The ball was cleared from the lineout and the next throw went against the head eventually giving Saracens a penalty from which they kicked to touch, leading to a rolling maul, try and successful conversion stretching Sarries’ lead to 3-14 after 31 minutes.

Quins were pinned back in their own half until the pressure was alleviated by a kick which was followed up well by Big Bill Satala who put in his first trademark crunching tackle of the evening. A good attack by Ugo ended without a score and the referee blew for half time.

Quinnell used all of his wit and mass to catch the ball at the restart, he trundled forwards until he came up against the physical tackle of Wilcocks causing him to lose the ball – not too bad as there must have been a two to one weight advantage! There were too many mistakes by Quins leading to a break which was only just stopped with a try saving tackle by Greenstock. A great break by Satala followed the ball was passed to Jewell, to Monye, the ball was recycled for Slems to chip through, chase and score. Slems converted the try to make the score 10-17 with 5 minutes of the second half gone. (Sub – Griffin replaces Evans).

Big tackles by Satala and fast running by Monye threatened to break the Sarries defence but yards from the line Ugo forgot to take the ball with him! After 17 minutes of the second half Monye was pulled off by the management allowing Ollie Phillips onto the field. A rare penalty was awarded to the home side but a knock on gave possession away again. The Sarries scrum was destroyed again by the powerful Quins pack. Half way through the second half the visitors from Watford were awarded another penalty setting the score at 10-24.

An ‘allegedly’ terrible decision was made by the stand in referee for handling in a ruck against Quins, even though the ball could be clearly seen coming from the boot of a Sarries player! A scrappy period followed which left the pitch looking like the Battle of the Somme with the injured lying all over the place. At 34 minutes the visitors were awarded yet another penalty which they kicked stretching their lead to 17 points (10-27).

Adrian Jarvis replaced Bill and play was taken deep into the visitors’ half. Quins pressed towards the line and were awarded a five metre scrum, a pushover was attempted but the ball popped out just before the line but Bemand reacted quickly and scored, Slems converted it cutting the deficit to 17-27.

A Quins attack from deep lead to what we all thought was a score from a rolling maul on the right but Cardinali was pulled up for vigorous use of the boot (according to the touch judge) in a ruck. Quins then made another break allowing Jeweller to score again, Slems converted which was to be the last score of the game to leave Quins just short 24-27).

Harlequins 2ndXV 15. Max Wilcocks, 14. Ugo Monye, 13. Bill Satala, 12. Nick Greenstock, 11. Rob Jewell, 10. David Slemen, 9. Scott Bemand
1. Bruce Starr, 2. Marco Caputo, 3. Pablo Cardinali, 4. Karl Rudzki, 5. Jim Evans, 6. Simon Miall, 7. Luke Sherriff, 8. Kai Horstmann
Replacements: 16. Ryan Storer, 17. Ross Hanbury, 18. Darryl Griffin, 19. Richard Oughton, 20. Ollie Phillips, 21. Adrian Jarvis

So what can be said about the performance?
In my opinion Monye and Jewell had great games on the wing and Wilcocks did well at 15. Greenstock did well in the centre and Satala showed some great skills – although he lacked a bit of match fitness. Bemand did well and constantly talked to the pack and Slems did pretty well (although his second drop goal attempt was on a par with some of Woody’s!). The front row (Starr, Caputo & Cardinali) did well destroying the Sarries scrum at regular intervals. The back 5 could possibly have done with being a bit faster to the breakdown but did well enough

Other match incidents were Quinnell tackling Bemand but not letting him get up after the ball had been passed across the pitch at which point AJB asked what aftershave Scott was wearing to cause such a reaction from the Welsh international.
When asked after the game what SB thought of the incident he said that Craig Quinnell was “warm and cuddly, I thought of retaliating but when I looked round the only back up I saw was Max [Wilcocks] so I decided against it”!
Sadly Quinnell was unavailable for comment after the game, he’d obviously been intimidated by the DG’s banter during the game!

Many of the squad were present – Tani said he was recovering from his hand injury and should be ready to play in a couple of weeks, but the news about Alex wasn’t quite as good – his hamstring is still playing up.

Cardinali said he was very happy to be over here playing for Quins and thought the rest of the squad were a great bunch. His English is getting better day by day - showing what an effort he is making to be a part of Quins.

It was a good evening’s entertainment, although the result wasn’t quite what we wanted, and I would suggest as many people come along as possible to the next one Monday 9th September against Northampton Saints away or home against the Army on Wednesday 25th September. There is also an U21s game at The Stoop on Saturday 7th September at 2:30 for those of you who can’t make the trip to Welford Road.